Movie Review: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) directed by Blake Edwards
Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a free-spirited sort of woman, out all night and having breakfast before going to bed by window shopping at the famous jewelry store Tiffany’s. She often loses or forgets her key, much to the annoyance of her upstairs neighbor Mr. Yuniyoshi (Mickey Rooney) because she’ll then wake him up to get in. Today is a bit different, as the apartment building has a new resident, Paul Varjak (George Peppard).
Paul’s a writer, though he hasn’t sold anything in a few years. Right now he’s the kept man of Ms. “2E” Failenson (Patricia Neal), a wealthy but married woman. Paul becomes fascinated by the antics of his eccentric neighbor and her nameless cat (Orangey). As time goes on and he learns more of Holly’s secrets, Paul may be getting in deeper than he expected.
This 1961 movie was based on a 1958 novella by Truman Capote. The adaptation made many changes, including changing it from a bittersweet character study into a romantic comedy with a happier ending. Some of these changes were due to the Hays Code of the time, while others were standard Hollywoodification.
Holly (short for Holiday) was born Lulamae Barnes in rural Texas. Orphaned at an early age, she ran away from the abusive foster home at 14 with her mentally challenged brother Fred. She was taken in by veterinarian “Doc” Golightly (Buddy Ebsen) who married her to have a legal reason to prevent her and her brother from being taken back. At the time, he was a widower with four children nearly Lulamae’s age. Yeah.
Now, mind you, Doc isn’t the sort of fellow who would *ahem* his child bride, and when now-Holly left him, she was able to get the marriage annulled no problem. But he’s never quite grasped why she had to leave in the first place, and thinks she’d be just as happy if she came back to her husband and children. Especially as Fred, who got drafted, is also coming home.
Holly went to California for a while and got an agent, O.J. Berman (Martin Balsam), who started her on French lessons to mitigate her Texan accent. She bailed on him and moved to New York City when she started feeling stifled, but they’re still friends. In NYC, Holly mostly does “compensated dating” where men give her money for the restroom, and they get a pretty woman on their arm for a few hours of partying. And it’s possible that she’s giving them more intimate services. Also, she gets a stipend for visiting jailed mob boss Sally Tomato (Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone) and getting “weather reports” from him. She goes to parties and hosts them in hopes of meeting a rich enough fellow that she can get married for money.
As Paul meets people from Holly’s past and pieces all this together, he finally gets over his writer’s block and starts publishing again, and also becomes Holly’s best male friend. It’s soon clear that he wants more, but Holly is still on her “marry rich” plan, and has a possible lead in Brazilian landowner José da Silva Pereira (José Luis de Vilallonga).
Of course, no plan survives the enemy, or in this case long-suffering neighbor Mr. Yuniyoshi. Will Holly have to flee again to stay free, or can Paul persuade her that maybe people belong to each other?
Good: The movie is beautifully shot, Hepburn hits it out of the park as Holly, and “Moon River” is an awesome song that fits with Holly’s wanderlust (“there’s such a lot of world to see”). Many of the gags are funny, and the supporting cast is largely good.
Less good: Mickey Rooney in bad yellowface makeup and broken English is…not a good look. Director Blake Edwards really wanted to work with Rooney, and thought it was a hilarious performance at the time, but it hasn’t aged well.
Also, Paul is played rather aggressively by Peppard, and while he may be a good friend, I think he’d be far too controlling as a lover/husband for Holly’s emotional wellbeing.
Trivial: A cameo appearance is a girl who gives her name as “Irving” (Thayer Burton). It’s implied she is probably lying, but what if she isn’t?
Content note: Implied extramarital sex. Implied nudity. Child abuse in the backstory. Offscreen death. A cat is (temporarily) abandoned. Period sexism. Alcohol and tobacco abuse. Mention of narcotics. Modern older teens should be fine; younger ones should have adult guidance.
Overall: This is a must-see for Audrey Hepburn fans, and good for most other viewers, despite some dated aspects. The brave may also want to try reading the book.
